The ‘smoking gun’ tape: Analysis of the information structure in the Nixon tapes

Abstract

This paper examines the cohesion in the 'smoking gun' tape, one of the released Watergate tapes. Through a careful analysis offour types of cohesion devices -reference, Substitution, ellipsis, andlexical chaining -I demonstrate that an unusual amount of ambiguity and vagueness isfound in the 'smoking gun' tape compared to that found in the 'backstage* conversations we have recorded. Cohesion devices are, moreover, shown to have both a uniting and a separating function: they do not merely tie together discrete utterances into a continuous text, but they also serve to erect a partition between insiders and Outsiders to a conversation. I then discuss how ambiguity and vagueness effect the understanding of conversations by examining the comprehension of texts against the background of two pnnciples of human perception, referred to äs 'snoopy effect' and 'duck-rabbit effect.' Finally, I illustrate, through an analysis of apassage in Judge Sirica's book, the extent to which these two principles must have informed the final 'gestalt' of the evidence in court.

Captured on tape: professional hearing and competing entextualizations in the criminal justice system

“…Studies of the entextualization of police interrogations and court proceedings report a consistent pattern of bias in legal transcription in favor of those who hold the greatest institutional power-judges, lawyers, and police o‰cers-by standardizing the language of powerful speakers or representing them as sympathetic figures (e.g., Coulthard 1996;Eades 1996;Walker 1986Walker , 1990. Conversely, transcripts produced in the course of the judicial process may misrepresent the speech of those suspected or accused of crimes, often in ways that are consequential to the outcome of trials; linguistic experts have used their professional hearing of language, dialect, and speech style features to demonstrate the inaccuracies of such legal transcripts (e.g., Blackwell 1996;Bucholtz 1995;Esau 1982;Patrick and Buell 2000). Wide linguistic gaps between o‰cial representatives of the legal system and those who become enmeshed in its workings can be particularly problematic, for in such situations the representational process is often further mediated by the presence of an interpreter (Fowler 2003; Jacquemet in this issue).…”

Pratiques de transcription et effets de catégorisation

“…Selon la perspective de la personne qui transcrit, ainsi que ses convictions relatives à ce qui est dit et à qui le dit, la version qui en résulte peut être très différente. Ainsi Esau (1982) confronte les quatre versions, reproduites ci-dessous, d'un enregistrement, l'une transcrite par le FBI (a), la seconde annotée sur la copie du FBI (b), la troisième constituée par le récit d'un officiel rapportant cet extrait (c) ; enfin la version d'Esau lui-même, présentant une multitranscription hésitant entre trois variantes (d).…”

Linguistics in Other Professions

“…Solan concludes by citing the inconsistent and contradictory attitudes taken by the courts, especially with regard to gender and number agreement. Essau (26) The study of language used in the courtroom has been approached by linguists from two perspectives: courtroom proceedings and government tape recordings used as evidence. Since 1974, O'Barr and his colleagues (87) at Duke University have been studying the spoken language in American cour trooms.…”